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Ryanair has applied for slots at Paris Roissy and Orly airports - O'Leary

September 30, 2015 at 02:49 am EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - Budget airline Ryanair (>> Ryanair Holdings plc) has applied for slots at Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports and is willing to cooperate with long-haul traditional airlines, chief executive Michael O'Leary told French financial daily Les Echos on Wednesday.

O'Leary said the new slots, if approved, would not be at the expense of Beauvais airport north of Paris and added that Ryanair also has projects at Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and several other French airports.

"For now it is not a matter of opening new bases there but new lines," he was quoted as saying.

Asked about cooperation with traditional airlines, O'Leary said Ryanair wants to develop its presence in major airports to capture new customers and because big airports are inviting Ryanair to come.

"It would be perfectly logical for long-haul airlines like Air France (>> Air France-KLM) to ask for our help to reduce their losses on short-haul flights," he said, adding that Ryanair flights could feed Air France at Roissy, IAG (>> International Consolidated Airlns Grp SA) flights at Gatwick or Lufthansa (>> Deutsche Lufthansa AG) flights in Berlin.

"We have already had discussions about this topic with IAG, TAP, Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, Norwegian. I think we will be able to announce a few deals next summer," he said.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; editing by Adrian Croft)

Stocks treated in this article : Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Ryanair Holdings plc, International Consolidated Airlns Grp SA

Stocks mentioned in the article

Add to a list Add to a list 0 selected To use this feature you must be a member Log in Sign up	Price	Change	5d. change	Capi.
AIR FRANCE-KLM	9.956 EUR	+0.77%	+0.85%	2.77B
LUFTHANSA	6.716 EUR	+0.87%	-3.53%	8.5B
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC	20.43 EUR	-0.58%	-1.97%	24.98B
INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP, S.A.	169.5 GBX	-0.18%	+0.24%	10.41B

Mike O'Leary

Michael O’Leary began his studies in a Catholic school, the Clongowes Wood College, and then at Trinity College in Dublin. He will come out without a diploma.

From 1984 to 1986 he was taw consultant at KPMG. In 1988 he became Tony Ryan’s financial advisor, co-founder with Christy Ryan and Liam Lonergan of Ryanair in 1985. At first time, it operates flights between Waterford, a town in south-eastern of Ireland, and London. The company expands quickly its offer with many flights intra Europe.

In the 1990s, Tony Ryan quitted the company’s direction and Michael O’Leary became deputy CEO in 1991 and CEO in 1994. He was responsible for restructuring the company in order to increase its earnings. He focused on a unique aircraft model, giving up the idea of business class and proposing very low prices.

In 1992, he went to Dallas to study the operation of Southwest Airlines. O’Leary transforms Ryanair from a small company in a first low cost’s group and third largest airline company in Europe (after Air France / KLM and Lufthansa). Ryanair’s headquarter is situated in Dublin.

The company had grown very quickly thanks to its business model of “low cost” and airline industry’s deregulation in Europe in 1997.

In 2001, Michael O’Leary was awarded as "European businessman of the Year" by Fortune magazine. Tony Ryan, founder of Ryanair, died in 2007 of pancreatic cancer.

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